Characterizing Planetary Systems Across the HR Diagram

The University of Cambridge Institute of Astronomy will host a 5 day scientific meeting to further our understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary systems. The meeting will focus on the full lifetime of planetary systems, from pre- to post-main sequence host star stages, and the connections that can be made by viewing these evolutionary stages as parts of a whole. In this way, the program aims to provide an integrative approach rather than focusing on each stellar stage separately.

We will bring together participants from the growing diversity of planetary science disciplines: star-planet formation, solar system studies, exoplanets, debris disks, host star abundances and atmospheric pollution, stellar evolution, and planetary dynamics. The conference can accommodate up to 150 people.

The overall goal of the meeting is to generate discussion and increase scientific interactions among the diverse communities interested in the formation, architecture, and evolution of planetary systems. Two themes that represent the spirit of the meeting are:

The physical and chemical connections between evolved planetary systems, their main-sequence counterparts, and those forming in proto-planetary disks

The scientific potential for extracting planetary system frequency, structure, chemistry, and dynamics at different evolutionary phases and stellar populations.